Blanton, Howard help Phillies top Cardinals

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Joe Blanton threw seven impressive innings
and Greg Dobbs and Ryan Howard delivered solo home runs, lifting
the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis
Cardinals on Saturday.

Making his third start since being acquired from Oakland on July
17, Blanton (1-0) kept the Cardinals off-balance, allowing two
hits through the first six innings. The 27-year-old righthander
allowed one run and four hits with two walks and five strikeouts
in gaining his first victory in a Phillies uniform.

"It was nice to go out for me personally and throw a good game,"
said Blanton, who had his last start cut short due to a rain
delay. "Even more important, two months left in the season, is
to get a win. That's the biggest thing right there."

"That's what they said (Blanton) could do for you when we got
him," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "They said he
definitely keeps you in the game and he did that tonight."

J. C. Romero and Chad Durbin combined to pitch a scoreless
eighth and Brad Lidge worked around a two-out walk and wild
pitch to notch his 27th save in as many chances as the Phillies
improved to 49-0 when leading after eight innings.

Blanton got all the support he needed early.

Dobbs connected on a first pitch fastball from Cardinals starter
Braden Looper (10-9) in the third inning to give Philadelphia
1-0 lead, and Howard blasted his 31st home run in the fourth.
It was Howard's fourth home run off Looper in six career
at-bats.

"I tried to make him throw some pitches and make him get them
up," said Howard, who is batting .444 (12-for-27) with six home
runs against his hometown team this season. "He mixes it up
just like he does to everybody else. When you get that pitch,
you can't miss it."

Aside from the two mistakes, Looper delivered a strong seven
innings. The converted reliever allowed three hits and two
walks, but lost for the fourth time in five starts.

"If you make mistakes to a lineup like that they make you pay,"
Looper said. "Unfortunately I made one too many. I went into
that game not wanting Ryan Howard to beat me and he ending up
beating me."

All-Star Ryan Ludwick was the only batter to solve Blanton,
belting a solo homer in the seventh - his third in the last two
games.

"We just couldn't really get much going," Ludwick said.
"Blanton was spotting the ball left and right, in and out, kept
us on our toes. I feel bad for (Looper), he put out a strong
effort and we just didn't do enough for him tonight."

NLAT ST LOUIS - SCORING UPDATESOLO HOME RUN BY RYAN HOWARD (31) TO RIGHT CENTER WITH 2 OUT IN THE 4TH OFF BRADEN LOOPER.CURRENT SCORE: PHILADELPHIA 2, ST LOUIS 0DUE UP FOR PHILADELPHIA: P BURRELL (.279, 0-FOR-1)